


Friends

by DeckofDragons



Series: Spinel is a Crystal Gem AU [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Baby Steven, Fluff, Gen, Spinel is a Crystal Gem AU, Spinel was never abandoned AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2020-10-14 20:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20606489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: In an AU where Spinel was never abandoned in the garden she's Steven's 4th surrogate mother alongside Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet.





	1. Baby Steven

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a long while since I've written anything so forgive me if I'm a bit rusty. I just had the idea for this AU coupled with the desire to write again so I had to do it. I imagine many people have done this AU too but that's fine, I'm not trying to be super original or anything. I might write more with this AU in the future. I would like to anyway. We'll see I guess.

Spinel stood and put on a smile as Greg reentered the living room. This was one of those moments when smiling didn’t come easy, in fact it was almost hard. Pink, aka Rose, was _gone_, not shattered but still just as gone as if she were. Now they were left with this squishy looking thing in a what was supposedly called a ‘baby carrier’, held in Greg’s arms, with Pink’s gem but _not_ Pink.

“Why’s he so small?” Amethyst asked as the four of them huddled around Greg to get a better look at the small bundled form in the carrier. Pink’s gem wasn’t visible but it should still be in the same spot, right? Hopefully it was still turned to keep her secret safe even after her passing, who even _knew_ how Garnet and Amethyst would react if they found out Rose’s real identity _now_ of all times. It certainly wouldn’t be fun to find out.

“Well, ‘cause he’s a baby. Babies are small.” Greg’s exhaustion and sorrow were audible in his voice as well as his pride for his new son. He’d been in the back room with Pink until the end while the rest of them had been left out here to await this moment; when he stepped back out into the living room with his son and no Pink.

It was the elephant in the room none of them were going to address. They’d all wished their farewells, voiced their final objections (far too late), and everything else to Rose this morning and now she was gone. And with her… passing Spinel’s purpose in life was over (Pearl’s too so at least Spinel wasn’t alone in her grief and keeping Pink’s secret.) She’d been created solely to be Pink’s friend, to make her happy. It was a task that had become difficult ever since they came to Earth, nigh on impossible during the height of the War but she’d always done her best up until now.

So, she had a choice to make. What did she do now? She was free to do anything, right? Or was she now meant to be this new being’s friend? She wasn’t opposed to that idea, new friends were always good. … If only Pink were still here too though.

“Can I hold him?” Amethyst asked, already reaching into the carrier to scope Steven up. That was his name, ‘Steven. It had a nice sound to it.

“Uh… sure,” Greg stammered, too late to protest even if he wanted to. “Just be careful with him, okay? He’s fragile… or at least he should be.”

Spinel leaned in to look at baby Steven over Amethyst’s shoulder, Pearl and Garnet did too. He looked like a tiny, bald, kind of wrinkly human. Weren’t humans only supposed to wrinkle up when they were old? Or was she mistaken? Not knowing many humans she couldn’t be sure.

“How is he supposed to do anything when his hands and feet are so small?” Pearl spoke up, finally breaking her hours long silence. Spinel had been beginning to worry if she’d ever speak again.

“Well, he’s not,” Greg replied. “He’s just a baby, he’s gotta grow some before he can do much.”

“Can I hold him too?” Spinel looked up to give Greg her brightest smile. “_Please_. I promise to be gentle.”

“Uh… sure.” Greg sounded almost unsure of how he felt about that. But he did say ‘sure’ so…

Spinel stretched her arms around to take Steven into her hands. He was small and felt _fragile_ for sure, looked it too, so she was careful as she pulled him up and then closer to her chest. His eyes were open now and he stared up at her unblinking, his gaze empty. Not a single tiny ounce of recognizance resided within them; the only thing that remained of Pink was her gem. This wasn’t her in a new form, she’d made sure everyone understood that as soon as the decision was made. It was still hard to believe though.

“Let’s be friends.” Spinel didn’t have to force a smile this time. “What game do you want to play? I’ll teach you some if you don’t know any.” Steven was a new being after all so maybe he didn’t know any games.

No response. Not even a smile in return, just a blank stare.

“He’s a bit too young for games,” Greg said, pulling Spinel’s gaze back up to him. He’d lifted a hand to rub the back on his neck. “And uh… kinda friends too, I guess. But once he’s a bit older I’m sure you’ll be pals.”

Spinel didn’t really get it, despite living on Earth for so long her knowledge of humans still wasn’t well developed, a hybrid with a gem had to be even more confusing and complex. “Okay,” she said despite that. Once he was older they could be friends, she could wait. “You want to hold him too Pearl?” She stretched her arms towards Pearl, cradling Steven gently in her hands. It was only fair that they all got a chance to hold him, right?

“Uh…” Pearl looked almost horrified by the thought. “No thanks. Maybe later.”

“I will,” Garnet volunteered.

Spinel handed Steven to her; Garnet could definitely take good care of him. What Spinel was going to do now that Pink was gone was still a question she didn’t have a answer too, heck what _all_ of them were going to do now that Pink/Rose was gone was still up in the air but at least they had _a_ course of action to follow; get to know this new creation. Surely a human-gem hybrid had never been done before, there was a lot to learn there. And perhaps lots of new fun games to try.


	2. Babysitting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all I would like to say I am absolutely blown away by how well this fic has been received. When I uploaded it I thought I was sending it out to die but instead it got 10 comments and more than 200 kudos! Honestly I couldn't ask for a better way to return to writing, thank you so much! :)
> 
> Second, a couple comments mentioned Spinel being good with baby Steven and babysitting him which is what inspired the basis of this chapter. I then discovery wrote my way through to make this.

“You sure you’ll be fine by yourself with him?” Greg asked, nervously looking back over his shoulder at Spinel, the front door already held half open.

“Of course,” Spinel answered with a smile and a whisper. Steven was napping upstairs, meaning she had to be quiet.

“Are you sure? Because I can stay at least until the others get back from their mission. I’ll be late for work but no one should care too much, right?”

Except Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet might be gone all day. Part of Spinel felt bad for not being with them but at the same time she was overjoyed that she got to stay back for once. She could fight alongside them and carry her weight in a battle – she’d been in the War, she’d had to learn such skills if she didn’t want to be shattered by the enemy – but she wasn’t meant for battle and would never like it. So she was _very_ pleased to have this opportunity to watch Steven while they were away on their mission and Greg had to go off to work.

So she gave him her best stern look – she’d practiced it in the mirror for occasions such as this because she wasn’t good at it – and put her hands on her hips. “We’ll be _fine_, I _promise_. And I’ll call you if anything happens.” He’d doubled and tripled checked to make sure Spinel knew both his cell and work numbers and had then written them on a sheet of paper and taped it by the phone just in case.

Greg hesitated before letting out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m just being a worrywart, being a father’s hard work. Uh… um… have fun I guess.”

“We _will_! You have fun too, see you in a few hours.” Spinel stretched her arms over to pat him on the back and close the door behind him as he exited. She didn’t give him a chance to remember something else he ‘needed’ to remind her of before locking the door and starting to prance towards Steven’s room. She was half way up the stairs before she’d finished pulling her arms back to their normal length.

Steven was fast asleep in his crib – it looked more like a cage to Spinel but Greg said this was a standard thing for young human children, that it was safer than a real bed and he knew more about these things than she did so she trusted him on this – and would be for a few more hours if the pattern held true. He was only a few months old now and already more than twice as big as when he’d been born. According to Greg he was growing faster than a normal human child. He had yet to manifest any gem powers though.

She placed herself on the foot of the crib to wait for him to wake up so they could play (after she fed him, he was always hungry when he woke up). She still missed Pink dearly, like a raw hole in her soul. But it had been so _long_ since she’d been able to play with someone so freely. It was _nothing_ like the days before Earth and the Rebellion but it was still _wonderful_ in its own way. It was the happiest she’d been in _ages_, hopefully things could stay like this for forever.

The sound of the teleporter came from downstairs, muffled enough by the distance she probably wouldn’t have heard it if she weren’t listening for it. She ignored it for now though; too busy making funny faces at Steven to make him laugh. If something important happened during the mission that she needed to know about right away they’d come up and tell her about it or call her down.

It was only a few seconds before the three of them entered Steven’s room. She looked up to greet them with a bright smile, happy to see them unscathed and calm, meaning as was usual nothing bad had happened during the mission.

“How were things?” Garnet asked after they’d exchanged greetings and greeted little Steven as well.

“Great!” Spinel replied. “After he woke up from his nap and I fed him we played peek-a-boo for a while and then we watched some TV and now I’m making funny faces to make him laugh.” She looked back down at Steven, lifted her hands to make L shapes on either side of her side of her head, stuck out her tongue and contorted her face into a silly expression.

Steven giggled and clapped. Happy, vibrant, and _cute_!

“Well the TV part sounds fun,” Amethyst said. “I’m glad you had fun though Spin, you deserve it. But it’s _my_ turn to hold Steven now.” She stepped towards the crib and undid the latches, allowing her to pull the side down.

Steven as always was pleased to be scooped up into her arms. He seemed to love all four so them equally, happy to be held, fed, and played with by any of them.

“I’m going to try to teach him how to balance a cheese puff on his nose,” Amethyst said, cradling him close to her chest as she started for the stairs.

“I’ll make sure nothing bad happens,” Garnet said, following Amethyst.

Before Spinel could start heading down too, Pearl spoke up. “How do you do it?”

Spinel turned to look at her. “Do what?”

Pearl paused; her expression unreadable. “Be so… _happy_ with Rose gone.”

“Oh uh…” That was a question Spinel had asked herself a few times now and had always ended up shying away from it. She couldn’t help but sometimes feel bad about how much she was enjoying having Steven around when it meant Rose was gone. Of _course_ Pearl was having the same kind of difficulties. “This is what she wanted, right? This decision is what made _her_ happy. She wouldn’t want us to be so sad about her being gone that we could never be happy again.” It was okay for Spinel to be happy with Pink gone, right? It was okay for her to have fun and play games with Steven even if Steven’s existence meant her own reason for having been made had come to an end… right?

“I… guess.” Pearl turned head away. “Don’t get me wrong, I like Steven but… but…” She’d rather have Pink back. She wasn’t going to verbalize it though, instead she turned to start heading back downstairs. Before she could take a single step though, Spinel stretched out her arms and wrapped them her middle. She gasped in surprise but didn’t protest even as Spinel closed the distance, not releasing her hold.

“I miss her too,” Spinel whispered, head bowed, once she stood next to Pearl. “A _lot_. So much it hurts, like something’s been ripped out me.” It was _impossible_ not to miss her. They’d both been part of her court and then she’d taken them to Earth and started the Rebellion with them by her side. They’d been through _so_ much together and now it was over.

They stayed like that for several long minutes, not saying anything, before the sound of the front door bursting open downstairs announced Greg’s return. “I’m back,” he called out.

“Let’s go back downstairs,” Pearl said with a sigh.

Spinel let out her own heavy sigh as she unwrapped her arms from around Pearl but took her hand instead to continue to offer whatever support she could, they were in this together after all. And downstairs they went to be with their surviving friends and continue to try to move on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is the end shippy? I don't know, possibly, you could definitely view it that way if you want to, I haven't decided yet for myself. I definitely think they'd bond over the fact that they both have a special connection to Pink/Rose though, they know her secret and they've been with her (and consequently with each other) from the start. So her being gone hits them a bit harder than it does the others.


	3. Hide and Seek

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've doing something with this fic that I've never done before; I don't have a backlog of chapters. So, I'm uploading chapters as I finish them, meaning the time between them is going be inconsistent, especially with long chapters such as how this one somehow turned out to be. That's just how I feel like doing it right now for some reason so that's how it's gonna be for now.

“Where do they go when they leave?” Steven asked, looking up at Spinel sitting in front of him, helping him build a block tower.

“You mean Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet?” Spinel replied because who else could he possibly be referring to.

“Yes.” Steven nodded. “Dad goes to work at the carwash but where do they go when they go away?” He made a gesture back towards the warp pad, even turning his head to look at it before looking back at Spinel. “Do they have jobs too?”

“Hmmm… yes.” What they did was _kinda_ like a job, wasn’t it? _Somebody_ had to do it and it had to be them because they were the ones who brought all the gem stuff here. What should she say about what they did and where they went though? The four of them and Greg hadn’t discussed how much Steven should know about all that while he was still too young to participate – he had Rose’s gem and thus it was almost a given that he’d participate someday… if he wanted to of course. “They go to different places and do important gem stuff that needs to be done.” There, that was a truthful answer that was also pretty safe, right?

“What does that mean? And can I go with them next time they go out? I’ll be good and stay out of the way, I _promise_.” His face was lit up with hope as he looked pleadingly up at her. If he’d been asking for _anything_ else it would’ve impossible for Spinel to say ‘no’ to him but she had no choice in this matter.

“You don’t want to go with them,” she said with a dismissive hand gesture. “It’s not very fun, trust me.”

“That’s what Dad said about the carwash but then he took me and it _was_ fun. You know, you were there.” That had been a couple days ago so maybe she should’ve expected this to come up eventually.

“Well this is different. It’s _super_ not fun. It’s the most unfun thing in the whole _universe_.” To emphasis her point – which was basically a lie, it could be fun and exciting _sometimes_ but almost always dangerous and therefore _not_ something Steven needed to be involved in right now – Spinel lifted her arms and stretched them out in a wide gesture. “But you know what _is_ fun?” She snapped her arms back in as she jumped up to her feet with a wide smile. “_Games_! What game do you want to play?”

“Uh…”

“We could play tag or hide and seek or…”

“Hide and seek,” Steven interrupted as he stood too. “Let’s play hide and seek.”

“Okay!” Good, Spinel had successfully distracted him. She’d bring this conversation up with the others when they got home to discuss how they should address this problem in future and possibly at what point he would be allowed to accompany them. But for now she had a game to play. “Who hides first?”

“Uh…” Steven looked up, lifting a finger to his chin in thought. “Me,” he said, pointing to himself.

After the third round when Spinel found him hidden upstairs under his bed Steven said, “This time can you count to a thousand? And then we’ll switch, you hide and I find you.” He smiled up at her eagerly.

“Okay!” A thousand was more than normal, though he occasionally demanded five hundred in hopes of using the extra time to hide himself in a cupboard behind things so it wasn’t _too_ far out of the ordinary. So Spinel didn’t mind and it would prolong the game, always a good thing.

So she stretched a leg over to the corner of the room to take one big step into it, facing it. She then covered her eyes with her hands and started counting. “One… two… three…”

Behind her, the soft creak of the stairs announced that Steven was headed down them as fast as his little legs could go. There was no reason to be in such a rush, he had plenty of time, but that didn’t seem to matter to him.

“… nine-hundred-ninety-eight… nine-hundred-ninety-nine… and one thousand.” Spinel snapped around. “Ready or not, here I come!” she called out loud enough that no matter where Steven was in the house, he should’ve heard her.

She skipped down the stairs and gave the living room a quick look over. There weren’t many good hiding spots here so she quickly moved onto the kitchen. She checked every cupboard he could reach. There was no sign on him so she moved onto the bathroom. He wasn’t there either. She went back to the living room to give it a more thorough look but… he wasn’t there either.

Odd, there weren’t any other places he could hide, could he? Maybe he’d snuck back upstairs. A quick check revealed that that didn’t seem to be the case either. So… where was he hiding? Had he found a new _really_ good hiding spot somehow? One she didn’t know about? It was possible.

Back to the kitchen she went to check every possible place he could fit in, even places that _should_ be too high for him to reach without a chair – all of which were placed neatly in their places. After coming up with nothing there she went to the next room to do the same. She wasn’t going to be bested, she was _good _at this game.

“Steven!” She called after her third thorough search had again yielded nothing again. She was starting to get worried but it was probably nothing, just her being a ‘worrywart’ as Greg would put it. “I give up, you win.”

Silence.

“Where are you hiding? It’s a _really_ good spot wherever it is.”

More silence as she flopped down onto the couch with a sigh.

He wouldn’t ignore her, would he? He’d won, she’d admitted defeat, it was time for him to come out now … Maybe he’d gone outside to hide and that’s why she couldn’t find him and why he wasn’t coming out, he couldn’t hear her. It was certainly something he was smart enough to do.

She jumped back up to her feet. Before she could turn towards the front door though, her eyes caught the warp pad off to the side. Surely, he wouldn’t have… No, no way, of course not, he was a good kid, he did as he was told and he’d been told to stay away from it so he _did_. But he _had_ mentioned wanting to go with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl so… maybe he _had_.

“No, of course not. He’s just hiding outside, that’s all,” she said. Verbalizing it wouldn’t make it true if it wasn’t but it did make it _feel_ more true. And it probably _was_ true so…

She turned her back on the warp pad and headed for the front door, stretching out an arm to open it before she got there. “Steven!” she called out as she poked her head out. “You out here?”

Other than the crash of the waves on the beach and distant call of seagulls there was no answer. Well they _were_ playing hide and seek so he was hiding and she had to find him. He wouldn’t have gone far; he was still too young to leave the house without supervision, he knew that. She’d find him in no time and all would be well.

Except she _didn’t_ find him and all was _not_ well. She twisted her hand into a megaphone horn. “_Steven_!” she called into. “_You win, come out now please_!”

Her amplified voice disturbed the seagulls but nothing else.

She’d _lost_ him! He’d taken the warp or maybe he _had_ gone outside and had fallen in the ocean and drowned or was grabbed by someone evil or something _else_ terrible had happened to him. And it was _her_ fault because she’d been watching him and didn’t keep a good enough eye on him and now he could be dying or dead and she had no way of knowing or saving him from danger.

She pressed her hands to the sides of her head, squeezing. Now wasn’t the time to panic. She had to tell the others and they’d help her find him.

She dashed back to the house. As soon as she was through the door the warp pad lit up and made its familiar warping sound. “Steven?” Maybe he’d found his way back through the warp pad safe and sound.

Except it wasn’t Steven. It was Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet returning from their mission. They were safe and unharmed so that was good at least.

“What’s wrong?” Pearl asked, a worried look clouding her face as the three of them stepped off the warp pad. Apparently, she needed nothing more than a glance to pick up on Spinel’s distress.

“I lost Steven!”

“You lost Steven?!” Amethyst said, also visibly concerned. “How’d you lose him?”

Spinel took a deep breath to steady herself before explaining, going through the events as fast as she could without going so fast that she couldn’t be understood. “And that was more than an _hour_ ago,” she said once she’d finished. “And he’s _still_ missing.”

“With how many places the warp pad can connect to he could be almost _anywhere_,” Pearl said, now _very_ concerned. “We have to find him before something bad happens.”

“He’ll be fine,” Garnet said before anyone had much time to consider what those bad things might be. As usual, she was the only one of them still calm. “We’ll find him.”

“How do you know?” Amethyst said before pausing. “Wait uh… yeah, I guess you would know, huh? Where is he?”

“I can’t know for sure but there are a number of places he could be. We’ll split up and find him or perhaps he’ll find his own way back.”

***

No doubt about, Spinel had long since finished counting to a thousand by now. She’d probably figured out he was no longer in the house anymore too. How was she going to react to _that_? Was she going to be mad? Steven had never seen her mad before and he very much didn’t want to.

It had been _such_ a good idea; use the warp pad to see what the other gems were up to and then warp back and hide. No one was even supposed to know he’d _used_ the warp pad. But instead he was lost in a forest he’d never seen before. He could still hear the ocean off in the distance somewhere though he couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from as it seemed to be from all around. Maybe he was on an island?

He glanced around, biting his bottom lip. He’d been sitting here for a while and still no one had come. How far away from the warp pad was he? He’d tried to go back to it after giving up on finding the gems. But even though he’d _thought_ he’d gone in a straight line he apparently hadn’t as he hadn’t been able to find it again.

What if he’d somehow managed to get so far away from it that he would never be found? Was that even _possible_ with how long he’d been walking? He had no way to know.

Maybe it was time to stand up and try to find it again. Maybe that wouldn’t be smart though, maybe he had a better chance of getting found and not getting more lost if he stayed put and waited for them to find him. No one had ever told him what to do if he got lost, perhaps assuming he never would be. Well now they all knew better. Hopefully he’d get a chance to apologize to all of them for this.

He sat there for another five minutes or so, listening to the sound of forest life around him. If he stayed out here for _too_ long night would come. He did _not_ want to be out here alone in the dark. He’d never been afraid of the dark but he’d never been alone in it while also being in an unfamiliar space before either.

So, too antsy to hold still any longer he stood up and continued in the direction he’d been going in before sitting down to rest and think. How far had he gone from the warp pad before deciding to give up and return to it? A while, right? Maybe he just hadn’t gone back far enough despite _feeling_ like he had and it was just a short distance away. Wouldn’t that be funny?

Except that didn’t seem to be the case at all. It _had_ to be nearby though. He’d just passed it by on accident and needed to turn back and find it. Easier said than done but he wasn’t a baby anymore, he could do it.

He was beginning to doubt that and think it probably would’ve been better if he’d stayed still and waited for one of the gems to come find him when he pushed past a branch and stepped into a clearing. The clearing that the warp pad was in! Chipped and partially sunken into the forest floor it was in much worse repair than the one back home. But despite that it was still one of the most beautiful things he could see right now.

He ran to it, barely managing to stop himself from tripping in his haste to reach it. “Home, home, take me home please,” he mumbled as he stepped onto it.

He thought about home and _only_ home, praying that’s how it worked, as the pad activated. Despite his exhaustion – it was way past the time he normally took a nap – and fear the feeling of floating in the stream of light was still amazing. He couldn’t think of anything more fun.

Alas, it was over all too soon as gravity claimed him and his feet were on the ground once more. But… he was _home_! He was back in the warp pad room in the beach side house, facing the living room.

“Spinel,” he called as he ran out to the middle of the living room. “I’m back!”

No answer. The house seemed empty. Dad would be coming back from work soon but surely Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst should be back by now, right? They weren’t normally gone _that_ long. And Spinel _should_ be home for sure. So where were they? …

They’d gone out to search for him. Hopefully they weren’t _too_ worried about him and would return soon to see he’d found his own way safely back home. All he could do now was wait for their return and hope they weren’t too upset with him for this.

“Steven.”

Steven jolted awake to see Garnet looking down at him. “Garnet?” he said as he sleepily sat up. Why had he been sleeping on the couch?

“I thought you might be here.” She sat next to him. “I’m glad to see you safe.”

… Right, he’d gone on an adventure and everyone had left to go look for him. “Uh…” Steven rubbed the back of his head as he looked sheepishly up at Garnet. “Is Spinel mad at me for tricking her?” She had a right to be, right?

“No.” Garnet hadn’t even needed to think about it. “It takes a _lot_ to get her mad. I don’t think she’s even capable of being mad at you. She was very worried though.”

“Yeah… sorry.” Did he need to explain himself? He probably should, right? “I _meant_ to come back right away but uh… I got lost and couldn’t find the warp pad. Then I had to rest because I was tired and uh… then I finally found it a little after that.”

Garnet’s reply was a wordless hum of acknowledgement, seemingly no judgement though.

“Are _you_ mad?” If anyone was going to be mad at him about this it’d be her or Pearl. Her because she was almost always so serious and Pearl because she was the most anxious about his safety.

“Nope.” A short pause. “The others should be back soon.”

True to her prediction it was only a few seconds before the warp pad lit up again. It was Spinel. “Garnet, I got your…” she began before cutting off as he eyes locked onto Steven. “Steven!” Her arms stretched out and wrapped around him several times, pining his arms to his chest. “You’re back!” She snapped her arms back to her body to hold him to her chest, squeezing him just tight enough to be uncomfortable. “You’re okay? You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Uh… no, I’m okay.” Steven squirmed, kicking his feet and wishing they were at least still on the ground; he didn’t like being held anymore even if he was still small enough for it. But given the circumstances he couldn’t rightly complain. “Sorry I tricked you. I just wanted to see what the others were doing.”

“I forgive you but don’t _ever_ do that again.” Spinel stepped off the pad and entered the living room, still holding Steven wrapped up in her noodlelike arms. “I was very worried. You could’ve gotten hurt.”

“I know. I won’t do it again.” He still badly wanted to know where Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl went and why and what exactly they did there. But… he apparently wasn’t going to find out this way. Hopefully he would allowed to know that stuff soon though.

The warp pad made its sound again, repeated a half second later. Spinel turned to look, allowing Steven to twist his head around and see that Pearl and Amethyst were here now too. “Steven!” they said together, a half beat off of being unison.

Spinel released her hold on him to put him in Pearl’s arms instead. “Are you okay? Are you hurt anyway?” She held him at arm’s length to thoroughly examine him. “Where have you been? Why did you…”

“Calm down P,” Amethyst interrupted. “He’s safe now so no need to continue to be so worked up. You’re only going to upset him if you get all up in his face about it. Put him down and let him relax.”

“I’m not ‘all up in his face about it’, I’m just worried that Steven might be…”

“I’m sorry,” Steven interrupted. “I’m okay though. I’m not hurt, I promise. I just got a bit lost and couldn’t find the warp pad for a while. I didn’t mean to make you guys worry. I know I shouldn’t’ve even gone but… I just wanted to know where you guys go all the time. But uh… _could_ you please put me down now?”

Pearl sighed before finally putting him back on the floor. “We’ll talk about that when you’re older. For now, you’re forbidden from being anyway near the warp pad unsupervised, it’s very dangerous. You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”

It hadn’t seemed _that_ dangerous but he wasn’t going to disobey especially since his feet were finally back on the ground. So instead he nodded. “All right, I won’t go near it anymore.” Until he was older anyway. When he was older, he should be allowed to explore all that stuff as much as he wanted… hopefully anyway.

“Good.” Amethyst clapped her hands together. “I’m glad your safe buddy.” She patted him on the head. “But now that _that’s_ settled let’s eat some junk food, watch TV, and pretend this whole thing never happened.”

“And then we can play a board game,” Spinel added with a little clap and a bounce.

Pearl looked like she had something more she wanted to say but she sighed and went back to the living room with them while Amethyst split off to raid the kitchen. On the couch where Garnet still sat, her and Spinel sat a bit closer to Steven than they normally did but otherwise he thankfully seemed forgiven. He’d probably have to put up with being hovered around more than usual for a while. Which would be annoying but he could live with it and probably deserved nothing less.


	4. Growing Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, sorry for how long it's been since the last chapter, I was doing an October challenge where I was challenging myself to put something Halloween or spooky themed out every day for October, either writing or drawing (I succeeded by the way, yay me. :) ). Naturally that took all my creative time and energy, I did however write a thing for this AU, it's part 2 of the series that this is now part 1 of, go check it out if you haven't already. But I'm back now with an erratic upload schedule because I'm just putting out chapters as I write them. :)

Amethyst calling a meeting was unusual but not unprecedented. She’d done so before when she had something she thought was important that they needed to discuss that for some reason none of the others had called a meeting about yet. So Spinel was a bit nervous as the four of them gathered in Amethyst’s room – their usual meeting spot, the kitchen, was off limits because that’s where Steven and Greg were and this was apparently a thing they didn’t need to listen in on.

“All right so,” Amethyst began as she turned to face them after they’d moved enough of her junk out of the way to allow them to stand in a loose circle. “I called this meeting because I think it’s time we start bringing Steven on missions with us.”

“No,” Spinel blurted out, her tone harsher than she would’ve liked but it was too late to take it back.

Amethyst raised in hand in a placating gesture. “Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting we take him on super dangerous missions anything like that. Just you know, the simple _not_ dangerous ones.”

“Still no. He’s too young. He’ll get hurt.”

“I think… Amethyst may have a point,” Pearl said. How could she possibly agree with Amethyst on this? It was _almost_ a betrayal. “He’s twelve now and his gem powers are still… lacking. Maybe being around more gem magic might help him learn by example or help his gem awaken more or… something.”

“Assuming the human part of him even _allows_ him to have gem powers.” Maybe Spinel wasn’t being totally logical. There was no reason his human part should impede the powers in his gem. But she did _not_ want him going on missions because… because… she just _didn’t_. He was too young.

“Spin, that’s bullshit and you know it,” Amethyst said, pointing an annoyed finger at her. “You were there the first time he sort of did something with his gem. You _also_ know he’s not a child anymore, he’s got to start coming with us eventually.”

Feeling a bit grumpy and annoyed herself, Spinel crossed her arms as she looked down at Amethyst. “Why though?” It had been assumed from the start that Steven would become a proper member of the Crystal Gems one day. But that didn’t _have_ to be the case. He could just as easily be a normal human child instead even if he wasn’t technically normal human by an stretch of the imagination.

“Because he’s got Rose’s Gem and he _wants_ to come with us. He _wants_ to be part of what we do and I think he has a right to even if we can’t tell him everything yet. We can’t keep treating him like a baby forever, we have to start easing him into stuff eventually.”

Before Spinel could make a retort, Garnet spoke. “I think we should talk to Greg about this too.”

“I already did,” Amethyst said. “He said it’s fine to take him on one as long as it’s not a super long mission or particularly dangerous. So we’re good there.”

“Hmm, I’m all right with him coming with us then. It could be a good learning experience for him.”

“It’s decided then?” Pearl asked as if it _was_. “We take him with us on our next simple mission?” She was looking only at Spinel as she spoke. Her expression was… apologetic? “We do need to start including him more eventually, you know that, right? And all four of use will be there to keep him safe.”

“But… but…” Spinel slumped in defeat. “… Fine.” Majority ruled and… they were right. Steven deserved a proper chance to become a full member of their group if that’s what he wanted… which it _was_, he’d made the very clear. And they couldn’t keep denying his requests to go on missions with them for forever.

Garnet put a hand on her shoulder as, meeting adjoined, they all turned towards the exit. “It’ll be all right,” she whispered. “Steven growing up doesn’t mean he won’t need you anymore. It just means, the way he needs you will change.”

Spinel wanted to believe that but… there was no way for Garnet, even with her future vision, to know that for an absolute certainty. And past experience said he _would_ outgrow her and not need her anymore in any way. With how fast he was growing and changing, that time would be _far_ too soon.

“What’s wrong?” Steven asked as he sat next to her on the bench outside, looking over the ocean.

“Nothing.” Spinel flashed him a quick smile that was mostly real, she was always happy to see him. “Just watching the sunset. It’s so pretty over the ocean.” All the colours and the way they reflected on the water was what she considered to be one of the most gorgeous things on Earth and one of the things she loved most about the planet.

“Well uh… you maybe want to play a game later then? Like a boardgame or maybe some Mario Kart or something before I go to bed.” He left unsaid that he obviously wasn’t fooled by her lie. Another symptom of him growing up and getting smarter and more mature.

“That sounds great!” That not only sounded like a fun time but should also make her feel better, get her mind off things. Steven may not like the the same games he had when he was baby or young child but he still both enjoyed them and enjoyed playing them with her. So even if he was growing up, he hadn’t outgrown his need for her… yet.


End file.
